diff --git a/packages/html-tools/.gitignore b/packages/html-tools/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 677a6fc263..0000000000
--- a/packages/html-tools/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-.build*
diff --git a/packages/html-tools/package.js b/packages/html-tools/package.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 794a21e63c..0000000000
--- a/packages/html-tools/package.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-Package.describe({
-  summary: "Standards-compliant HTML tools"
-});
-
-Package.on_use(function (api) {
-  api.use('htmljs');
-  api.imply('htmljs');
-
-//  api.add_files(['scanner.js']);
-});
diff --git a/packages/html/package.js b/packages/html/package.js
index 059e540dfd..ebb28f6746 100644
--- a/packages/html/package.js
+++ b/packages/html/package.js
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ Package.describe({
 });
 
 Package.on_use(function (api) {
+  // we attach stuff to the global symbol `HTML`, exported
+  // by `htmljs`, so we both use and effectively imply it.
   api.use('htmljs');
   api.imply('htmljs');
 
@@ -18,7 +20,7 @@ Package.on_test(function (api) {
   api.use('tinytest');
   api.use('html');
   api.use('underscore');
-  api.use('ui'); // for `toCode`
+  api.use('spacebars'); // for `toJS`
   api.add_files(['charref_tests.js',
                  'tokenize_tests.js',
                  'parse_tests.js']);
diff --git a/packages/spacebars/package.js b/packages/spacebars/package.js
index 8a8b3fc0e9..ce3fbabaed 100644
--- a/packages/spacebars/package.js
+++ b/packages/spacebars/package.js
@@ -5,6 +5,15 @@ Package.describe({
 Package.on_use(function (api) {
   api.export('Spacebars');
 
+  // we attach stuff to the global symbol `HTML`, exported
+  // by `htmljs` via `html`, so we both use and effectively
+  // imply it.
+  // XXX Should separate out the Spacebars runtime support
+  // from the Spacebars compiler so we don't need html
+  // at runtime.
+  api.use('html');
+  api.imply('html');
+
   api.use('underscore');
   api.use('jsparse');
   api.use('html');